


Back Together

by TonyandJasonsGirl



Series: A Spy into The Life of Rafael & Sonny [1]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Break Up, Getting Back Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:40:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28700835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonyandJasonsGirl/pseuds/TonyandJasonsGirl
Summary: When Rafael and Sonny have a temporary separation, the two of them eventually find their way back together once again.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Series: A Spy into The Life of Rafael & Sonny [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103831
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story came about after watching the episode when Rafael and Sonny have the stand off with each other outside the courtroom in season 18, with the events of Next Chapter & also the episode that leads to Rafael's suspension, with making it slightly AU I've made it so that there is a longer time between the events as they were actually shown!
> 
> This story is also a part of a series I have got planned out showing aspects of the two men's relationship so may end up jumping around a bit into both their past and present times.

Back Together Ch 1.

Ever since Rafael and Sonny had got together, not long after Sonny had started working at SVU and once he had got rid of that frightful mustache as Rafael had put it and Sonny had come into himself a lot more, they had finally responded to their initial attraction to one another.

Even though they had kept things quiet about the two of them, and it wasn’t like the two of them needed to hide away from it; it was just the beginnings of the relationship that they preferred to keep to themselves as they first started out, even if they felt the squad would support them through everything.  
Following on from Sonny having moved from precinct to precinct with the squads he had been working with finding out or assuming what his sexuality was then bullying him about it and in bringing about his decision to then apply for and transfer to a different squad repeatedly, in some respects, it was still how Sonny felt that if other officers from outside of the squad found out, again they may have the same attitude and he may again be searching for another transfer and that would again mean the end of their relationship.

Then came the death threats which Rafael had deemed to keep silent about until it had got to the stage where he had to reveal the truth about what was going on, which surprisingly bought out the protective instincts in Sonny, but under the surface, he was furious that Rafael had held it out from him, which when they were able to have a private moment out of the way of his protection detail on that first-night matters had become heated between the pair, and despite them having made things up between them, the cracks had begun to show.

Following Sonny’s near-death experience at the hands of Tom Cole, and for Rafael having found out the news about what had transpired with a phone call from Olivia, due to him being in court at the time of the incident itself, the both of them had, later on, spent the rest of that night in each other’s arms with Rafael bringing Sonny as much comfort as he could, despite his own worrying about what could have been.

In the next few weeks yet once more they found themselves once more being pulled away from each other with the incident playing within Sonny’s mind, and specifically in the nightmares he was having, meaning that with Rafael being woken up by Sonny’s whimpers or frequently waking up to Sonny thrashing about and Rafael then struggling to dodge getting clobbered or kicked by those long arms and legs in the process, but with them both being so tired they were getting irritable with one another, and Rafael felt Olivia was becoming more concerned with him at least, as she was asking him if he was ok and advising him that he needed to get some rest because of how drained he was beginning to look.

He just told her he was fine, and that she didn’t have to worry about him, but in return, he just got that knowing look from her that told him she knew that there was something more going on with him, so she just patted him on the arm and said: “You know my door is always open.”  
To which he just glanced back at her and nodded slightly at her as he walked away from her.  
Everything of course came to a head between them on the night before the squad began investigating the case of the gene rapists.

Once again there had been a sleepless night for the both of them and so that morning Rafael had told Sonny that he needed to speak to Olivia about seeing Dr. Lindstrom to recommend a therapist to him or find one for himself because they couldn’t keep going in how they were and it was obvious to him that Carisi talking to his priest only was just not working, but once again Carisi just replied that he would think about it.

As things went with the case and when it reached court, Carisi had spent less time with Rafael at his apartment, and even though Rafael had got some sleep at least, even if he could see that Carisi was still barely getting any sleep himself, with how tired he was looking, but also with how he was flying off the handle so easily.  
It all came to a head outside the courtroom when the two of them ended up yelling at each other, only for Rollins to drag Carisi away from Rafael, before they could both end up saying something to one another that they would afterward regret.

That night and following that day’s events, Rafael had sent Carisi a text to meet him at the apartment. As soon as Carisi had got in the door Rafael had told him to go and sit with him.  
As he did so, he had to admit to himself that even he was feeling uneasy about what was to happen, and feared that perhaps this could be the end of their relationship and that he might find himself moving on once more.

With them both sitting there staring at each other expectantly, Rafael eventually cleared his throat and spoke: “Look Sonny, I don’t want to lose you through all of this, but if we don’t do something about it, then I can see that this will be what happens, you need to get some help and I realize that you’ve only been staying away from here so we’re both not awake all night, but I notice you’re still having the nightmares as you look so tired, and from how annoyed you’ve been... we said when we began our relationship wouldn’t come into work with us, but today I felt it did do just that. I don’t wish to do this because I care about you too much and want our relationship to work, it’s time that you got some help and got your head straight, otherwise, we will have to say that we are over, not only that if you continue to go as you are, I worry you might get into a situation where you might end up in trouble and there will be no-one around to hold you back like Rollins did this morning or that you could end up doing something and being in trouble with IAB, I don’t want to give you an ultimatum over this, but if you don’t do anything, then we will be over.”

With that just for a few minutes, Sonny glances back at Rafael and can see the emotions that are playing out on his face and can see that he means business, so takes his hand in his and responds with “I promise you I will get myself sorted out.” As he then lets go of his hand as he says that he’d better leave and leaves the apartment despondently.

Following having left Rafael’s apartment, Sonny found himself going out into the cold night and bringing his collar on his coat up to protect himself from some of the chills, goes out on a little walk round to ponder over what Rafael said, as he does so he thinks back to when he first started with the unit and that it was because of Nick Amaro having got himself into the trouble he had done because of his temper, and there was no way that he wanted to finish up doing the same thing, so with that, he resolved he was going to do something about it and headed back to Rafael’s apartment building to retrieve his car, before then heading to Olivia’s apartment to talk to her about a few things.

After Sonny had left his apartment to distract himself from his thoughts about what he had said to Sonny and wondering what he was going to be doing about it, Rafael had got himself a scotch and some case files out to work on.

A couple of hours later there was a knock on the door and he then realized he had got himself so deep into the work that he had been doing he had hardly drunk anything from the scotch that he had poured out for himself, so taking a sip, he then got up and went to the door, finding himself surprised it was Olivia at his door.

As he opened the door he immediately said: “Is everything ok Liv?” Thinking about the probability that there could be something up with Noah or something like that.

She then surprised him as he opened the door further to let her in, as she said in reply, “What’s been going on with you and Carisi?”  
He responded with “What do you mean?”

As she removed her coat and left it on one of the bar stools at the breakfast bar, she replied: “He’s just been at mine asking me for some time off and asking if Dr. Lindstrom could recommend someone for him to talk too, he just told me he needed to do it for himself, but also because of needing to do it to save his relationship, he wouldn’t say anything about the relationship or who he was with, but I’ve known for a while Rafa about the two of you.”

He offers her wine and pours it out for her before he then tops off his scotch and as they then sit on the sofa together, he sighs and says “Yes we have been seeing each other for a while now, and we’ve just got to a stage where I was going to ask him about moving in together, seeing as we were spending practically every night here together anyway and telling you all about us and making it official with declaring it to the bosses, but ever since the incident with Tom Cole, things haven’t been good with him and every night he’s had dreadful nightmares.”

“That’s why you’ve been looking so drained and why he went off at you in court earlier?”

He nods and goes on “It was, because we both have been getting very little sleep between us, and, after that, he hid himself away back at his apartment so I wouldn’t be able to know if he’s been sleeping or not, but if I’m honest, from looking at him I presume that he may have been sleeping even less. I’ve been telling him ever since that night of the incident that he should go and talk to someone about it, but he just kept telling me he had the church and could talk to his priest, but even I realized that that wouldn’t be enough for him, so after what happened today I told him he had to come to you and get Dr. Lindstrom to recommend someone that he could talk to about all of this or we’d be over if he didn’t, which I didn’t want to do, but with how annoyed he’s been getting and with our promise to each other when we first started out that we wouldn’t bring in our personal relationship to work with us, which it felt like today, it was the only thing I could think of getting through to him.”

She replies “I don’t blame you, seeing as it looks to have worked, I talked to Dr. Lindstrom while he was with me and he’s going to do an assessment with Carisi tomorrow morning and then refer him to who he considers would be the best for him, but you know it means you must be there for him.”

He sighs and responds “I know and I’m happy to be there for him, as I love him Liv and want to be there for him through thick and thin, as I said giving him the ultimatum so to speak was the only way really that I could think of to make him see sense, especially with the way things were going with him and the whole church and I have a priest thing, it just made me think about the things you told me about Nick saying the same thing and I just didn’t want to see Sonny ending up going that way too.”

“I don’t think I would have wanted to have seen him go down that way either, but then at the moment, he hasn’t been showing too much of that side coming out at work, other than what happened at court today of course. I hope that the two of you can find your way back together once again, as the two of you deserve to be happy, but it may take some time, and remember Rafa if you need to talk about anything, then I am here for you and when the two of you find it’s time that you should disclose things, then just say the word and I’ll have the paperwork sorted out for him to do.”  
He sighs and says, “Thanks Liv.”

Once Olivia had gone Rafael got something to eat and then just worked for a little while on the paperwork he had been working on earlier on, and as he found himself beginning to fall asleep over it, he decided it was probably time that he headed for bed.

As he settled himself down for the night, he found he was missing Sonny not being there by his side, even if Sonny hadn’t been there for a while, but he hoped it wouldn’t be long until they were back together once again in each other’s arms.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As some secrets are revealed with the David Willard case is investigated, Rafael and Olivia end up having a heart to heart, it also brings he and Sonny back together once again as they make plans to go away together while Rafael serves out his suspension.

Chapter 2

It had been a few weeks since Sonny had begun his therapy and had come back to work once more and things seemed to be going on fairly well.

In that time he and Rafael had gone back to the beginning of their relationship so to speak with the way that they had just gone out on some dates so that they could get reconnected once more with each other, and on a couple of occasions and with the request of Sonny's therapist Dr. Saunders he had gone to see her, where they talked things through as a couple.

Then came the case where their suspect David Willard had killed his girlfriend in an argument and he was a real technical genius, so he had hacked the NYPD's system finding out everything there was, to begin with on their latest serial rapist case, leading him to leave his girlfriend's body in the same way as the rapist to make them think it was yet another case.

After that he had gone after their rope expert, hacking both his work and private emails, along with finding out everything he could find out, he had then proceeded to blackmail the expert so that he wouldn't give evidence in the case, as he then told Olivia and Fin that he had made a mistake with the evidence. Eventually, Fin and Rollins had found him after he had disappeared and they had prevented the man from committing suicide as he was about to do when they found him.

The next person that came under his fire was Rafael Barba, one minute he had agreed that he was going to be getting the team warrants for his computers and the other things that they were going to be wanting from him, then the next thing they knew he was telling Olivia on the phone while they were standing in the man's offices waiting for those warrants so they could go ahead and get what they were wanting, that he wasn't able to get them the warrants after all.

It turned out that after Rafael had agreed to get them the warrants with his conversation with Olivia at the courthouse, as they walked away from one another, he had got a call on his phone blackmailing him into not having anything to do with the case, otherwise some information he didn't want getting out would do so.

When Olivia had eventually caught up with him in Forlini's the whole story had come out about how he had given money to a drug addict many years ago who had been giving evidence for him over the person he was prosecuting at the time, knowing though that this woman would use the money that he had given her to buy drugs, and after 'killing it' on the stand as he had put it, she had done just that and had died from an overdose a couple of hours later.

Since then the woman's daughter Ashtonja Abreu had gone to live with her grandmother and because of being so poor, he had regularly sent them money to help them with what they needed and for her education, of course, the man had thought that he had been giving her money for other reasons, which he had told Rafael he would reveal if he didn't come off the case, so he had gone to the DA and had told him everything and had recused himself from the case.

When Olivia had asked him what was going to happen, he told her that he didn't know and that they could have seen their final case together, which he got emotional over, as he was waiting to hear from the DA about what was going to be happening. She then took his hand and told him that he had better call Sonny and explain everything to him, especially as he had been with her when they had gone to see the girl.

So that night he had gone home to change first and had then gone round to Sonny's apartment, and as he opened the door Rafael had said to him "I think we need to talk."

After explaining everything as they sat side by side on the sofa Sonny said "As soon as she told us that he had accused you of sleeping with her, I knew that it wasn't true and that you would never do that, and I think that after he had just got the evidence of you paying her the money from your bank account details, he was going to just stick with that accusation, considering that if he had gone further into things, he would have known where things really did lie with you, but then he would have probably tried to blackmail you over your sexuality instead."

He responded, "There is that."

After a pause, Sonny asked, "So, what's going to happen with the DA?"

He sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face "I don't know, at worse, I could lose my job or he could just decide on suspension without pay."

"Either way I don't want to see you go, but I hope that it will just be the suspension."

"And me too." Rafael then pauses and adds "If that happens, what would you say to taking some leave and we go away somewhere together?"

Sonny asks with some surprise "Are you serious?"

"I am, I know that you only took some leave a while ago, but I think that we need to have some time alone, as we've both had a bad time of it recently and I have really missed you, I just think that some time together would do us some good, then when we get back again what do you think about us moving in together?"

As Sonny throws his arms around his neck, then presses their foreheads together and asks quietly "Are you sure?"

Rafael cups his cheek and says "I'm very serious."

"Ok, let's do this, I'll talk to Liv in the morning or at least before we have his arraignment, then hopefully we may only have to wait a couple of days or so for it to go through, seeing as, after the last time, I doubt that I'll be able to get away with getting the time off straight away again unless she takes pity on me."

"Well, I don't mind waiting for a few days if we have to, we can always use those few days to sort out where we may go, although I will most probably stay away from the precinct."

As they finally separate Sonny says "If she lets me there may be a chance that Liv might let us meet for lunch or something instead and we can sort some things out then."

After that Rafael closes the gap between them once more and initiates a kiss, when they separate Sonny sighs out "Take me to bed, Rafael."

"Only if you make sure that you set the alarm so that I will have time in the morning to get back to the apartment, seeing as I don't have anything here with me, and if I'm going to watch the arraignment and then have a meeting with the DA, I really don't want to be doing a walk of shame."

"I promise you that I will make sure that I set the alarm so that you have plenty of time to get ready, and you do still have something here, as I do have your toothbrush still."

With that Rafael pushes Sonny to get up from the sofa and as he just lightly smacks Sonny on the ass, he says with a smile "Alright smart ass."

Sonny just laughs and holds his hand out to Rafael, who takes it and gets up from his seat on the sofa, and as soon as he's on his feet Sonny takes him in a heated kiss, as they break apart, he then pulls Rafael towards the bedroom for their first night together for a little while.

The next day just as Rafael is about to head to court for the arraignment, he gets a call from the DA setting up a meeting between them for later that morning.

During the arraignment, the man is sent to prison without bail, and with the look that he gives Rafael as he is taken from the courtroom, Rafael guesses that he is blaming him for the truth coming out, but he can't help feeling smug that he has got some comeuppance for what he did to his girlfriend, although he does also find himself praying that when the case does come to court, he doesn't attempt to use his tech abilities to attempt fixing the court case itself. 

After leaving the courthouse and heading to the DA's office and with Carisi not being there for the arraignment and with Olivia being there with him, he finally asks her "What happened to Carisi, I thought that he was going to be here too?"

She answers him "Well, seeing as he came to me this morning saying that he was planning on going away with his boyfriend and wanted to have some leave, I told him that if he didn't want to wait at least a couple of days before I would be able to grant it, then he would have to miss coming here and to make sure that all of his paperwork was done and dusted so that he can leave a bit earlier today and his leave can officially start from tomorrow."

"Thank you for doing that Liv, you didn't have to do it that fast for us, we could have waited a few more days, especially as I have no clue as to where we're going to be going yet."

She pats his arm and responds "Yes I did Rafa, I know that the two of you have been working hard on getting yourselves sorted out, and are back to being in a lot better place than the two of you were a little while back, but a break away from it all will do the both of you good, just make sure that when you've finished with the DA, you call him first, yes I do want to know what's going on and for how long we may have to put up with a new ADA for, I hope though that it won't be for that long if it does come down to that."

"I will do, I promise."

When they get to the DA's office and leave each other outside, just as he gets inside the door of the offices, his phone buzzes, as he takes his phone out of his pocket and looks at it, he finds that there is a text for him from Sonny wishing him luck with the DA, to which he sends one back to Sonny thanking him and saying that he's about to head in for his appointment.

Following his meeting with the DA, Rafael sent a text to Sonny saying that he was just going to head to his office and pack up some of his more personal stuff that he didn't want any prying eyes to see because he was on a two-week suspension, but had been informed that due to not having a junior ADA that was qualified enough to take over, a more senior ADA was going to be transferred over temporarily for the period of his suspension.

After getting the text from Rafael, Sonny went straight to Olivia's office and knocked on the door, as she told him to go in, he did so and as she took her glasses off to look up at him with a questioning look on her face, he said in answer to the look that she was giving him "It's a two-week suspension, we'll be getting a new ADA while he's out, he's just gone to the office to get packed up with some of his more personal things because they will be using his office too."

"Go and be with him, don't worry about what's left to do with the paperwork, I can cover for you, if there is anything I need from it I'll make sure that I get it from you when you both get back from wherever you end up going, even if you're still on leave, but only if it ends up being something that needs doing urgently."

"Thanks, Liv."

She then says "Have a good rest both of you and tell Rafa that I'll talk to him later."

With that, he tells her that he will do and leaves to be with Rafael.

By the time he gets to Rafael's office, Carmen is still there at her desk and she tells Sonny that he can go right in, as he does so and sees Rafael putting some things into a bag, he goes straight over and hugs him, while they're hugging he asks "Are you ok?"

Rafael answers "I'm ok and just glad that things weren't as bad as they could have been, but for now let's just get out of here, grab a takeout and then begin to think about where we can go to get away from it all here."

Sonny agrees with him and they break apart from the hug, but then just as Sonny takes a step away from him, Rafael goes into a pocket of his briefcase and adds to what he had been saying "I want you to have this, and I don't know if you want to move into my place or if you want to find somewhere new for us to live once we get back from our break, I just wanted to make sure that with whatever we decide on doing that you've got a key to mine."

As Sonny then takes the key from him and gives him a light kiss on the cheek he says "I would love to move into yours, but let's, for now, say that we will talk things through while we're having this break and decide on what we want to do then."

With Rafael's agreement to that, the two of them leave the office and say "Goodnight" to Carmen and for Rafael say "Goodbye" to the DA's office for two weeks, but in some ways also feeling quite happy and content knowing that he will be spending that time with the man he loves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you have enjoyed this story, the plan for the next part of this story is to either covering the beginning of their relationship or to cover their reunion vacation together!


End file.
